Getting Dirty - Painting grimy industrial scenery
Having knocked out a few more Deadzone models (I may stick a blog up about them too at some point) I thought it would be fun to delve into the box of scenery that I picked up a while ago. It was a combination of some ebay purchases and a box of bits from a great local guy at a Kings of War Event. I didn't really know where to start so grabbed whatever bits came to light first and started chucking them together. Within a few hours I concocted the idea I was building a hide out for the rebs in an abandoned mining complex. It meant I could use some of the odds and ends I had laying around from Star Saga and Ramshackle Games' resin parts.
Now with some big lumps done I took a couple of plates and thought I would try out some test paint pieces. Ever since seeing Nick Williams doing some on his Orks I'd had in the back of my mind trying the salt and hairspray method of painting. This was brought even further to life with one of my clubmates showing me some of the pics he'd done using the method. The main worry I had about putting the rust colour down, then the other materials was that it didn't give a lot of scope for highlighting and that it could appear a little flat.
I wanted to try inverting it at paint everything up then wash salt followed by a wash to see if it would work. I'll go through the steps I used here. Amusingly at various points along it I was happy with the way it looked but decided to press on as it was a trial to see what it would end up like.
Step 1
Sprayed the whole pate with Games Workshop Mecahnicus Grey. I actually wanted to be stingy and use the Halfords grey primer I usually use but had run out.
Step 2
Dry brushed with Games Workshop's Dawnstone, Etherium Blue and Praxeti white. I tried to do this in angled lines to add to the scratched effect on the plates. Rather than in circles as is usual for organic stuff.
Step 4
Now I ventured into unchartered territory. I sprayed the whole surface with harispray (I'd recommend finding some scent free stuff if you can!). Then threw patches of coarsely ground salt on top, followed by another good blast of hairspray. While not as bad as using paint spray cans inside I'd recommend at least opening a window.
Step 5
I let this dry for about 3hours until it was well fixed and tough. Then added some washes. I wanted to see what would work best and did one plate in Games Workshop's Agrax Earthsahde and the other in Army Painter Strong tone. I think the AP is on the left and the GW on the right. At this point and having let it dry for a couple of hours on a radiator I was pretty happy.
I thought the previous step really I could have achieved with sand so felt that to give the salt N spray approach a chance I needed to start rubbing it off. I started experimenting with just dry scraping off the salt and although it looked ok, the finer salt left a white finish I wasn't too happy with. I still think it's serviceable but I tried one more thing.
Step 7
I ran some warm water into a tub and went reasonably hard at the plates with an old toothbrush. Rubbing the salt away with the water but taking care not to remove all the washes I had put on. There's still a bit of fine salt on the surface but I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. Now to see if I can do it again on the bigger pieces. I think the Army Painter strong tone came out a bit better as it is a stronger colour. Handy as I've got more of it and it's cheaper.
Just one more thing
I don't have any oil paints but I stumbled across this guy doing some amazing things with them. Definitely worth a watch for some great results.
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